Join our big family of 9 as we live life, raise our special needs adopted daughter, and homeschool.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Dairy Allergy

After Baby Girl threw up breastmilk mixed with a fair amount of blood last Thursday, we took her into the Dr the next day to be tested for a dairy allergy/intolerance(per the nurse practitioners request).

Positive.

That explains Baby Girl's weight problems, her fussiness, gas issues,etc. Poor thing. And the idiotic part is that all our other bio kids had the same issues and had to be on soy formula. So you would think the Dr or me would have realized this possibility. With the other kids though the warning sign of dairy issues was massive spitting up. Baby Girl didn't have that so it didn't cross my mind. Plus
I am nursing so I though breast milk would be ok I guess.

But like with drinking cows milk, everything the cow eats passes into it's milk. That's why it's important to eat organic cheese/yogurt/milk etc. Otherwise you are getting all those awesome antibiotics(that are causing antibiotic resistance and super bugs) and GMO feed. Yum.

So now I am dairy free.

And you think dairy- milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, right?

Oh no, there is so much more that contains dairy products that you would never guess or doesn't immediately come to mind:

breads/rolls/flatbreads

chicken stock

candy

french fries

most things with a batter on it

soups

lunch meat

sausage patties

hash browns

dressings/sauces

You will find some of those products listed above can be found dairy free but you have to be watchful because some brands contain dairy. And you have to be vigilant for whey also which comes from milk.The good thing is that companies are required to state on their packaging if it contains milk products.

I had to nibble the bread at communion last night because I didn't know the ingredients.

The good news is I have lost 3lbs in 8 days! It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth. And even though I bake with natural sugars at home(maple syrup/honey), I find it hard to resist refined sugar in the form of candy bars, doughnuts,cupcakes and cookies. Yep, I am human.

But ALL those sweets have dairy. I can probably sub some of the ingredients out(like milk or almond milk, butter for applesauce, etc), but haven't gotten to doing that yet.

We have also been eating vegan meals. Meaning no meat or animal by products(dairy/eggs, though we are more lenient with eggs). We didn't eat meat too much before anyhow. We mainly used it to season our food, not as the main star.

After watching Forks Over Knives about a month ago, we started cutting back on dairy products and cut out meat at our dinners at home. The statistics and human results in this video are startling. If you're not a fan of cancer or heart attacks/strokes, then you need to watch this movie. It's free on netflix or you can rent it for 2.99 on Amazon.

But with the dairy allergy/intolerance diagnosis I have been more strict at our dinners and for myself at other meals.

I miss pizza the most. That's gonna be the first thing I eat when Baby Girl is weaned(at a year old)!!